The Great City (Revelation 17)

Also known as, “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations,” the great city in Revelation 17 is a mystery and source of more speculation than perhaps anything else in scripture.

As the seventh bowl was emptied we saw “the great city” destroyed and forced to drink the wine of the fury of God’s wrath. Now, one of the bowl angels (perhaps the very one who poured the seventh bowl) shows John more about the enigmatic city. Specifically, he shows John an image. Unlike the other visions in Revelation, this vision is a static image, like a picture or a tapestry. Also unlike most of the other visions, this one is interpreted.

So, what or who is the great city? With so much information being offered, you would think that we would have clear answers. We don’t.

Complicating things for readers of this chapter, the city/whore is not the only symbolic character here. We also see the Beast, whom we have already seen in other visions, and the beast is explained to be at once seven mountains and seven kings. This was early on seen as a key about seven rulers of Rome, but time has rendered that interpretation obsolete. Even in John’s day one had to tinker with facts to make it fit.

Others see it as a code for the various kingdoms that have persecuted God’s people. This seems a better fit, with five kingdoms proceeding John’s day (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece), and Rome being the kingdom at the time of the writing. That leaves one that John said would only last a short time. (Many see this as a reference to Nazi Germany). The final, end-of-time Beast would come out of one of these empires. Even if that ends up being the case, one still sees the symbolic nature that applies to the “powers that be” in the world throughout history that oppose God and His plans. That is the timeless nature of the beast referred to here that believers are warned not to embrace.

But the whore/ city who is resting on this beast is also said to be resting on seven hills. So various readers have tried to say this city is literally one of three cities: Babylon (as named), Rome (due to the hills) or Jerusalem. What is more likely, considering the symbolic nature of the imagery, as well as the fact that God’s wrath that ends the history of the sinful world targets and destroys this city, is that the city is a stand-in for a culture set up against God across the whole world throughout all of history.

It is a culture of power, wealth, and pleasure. It is the continual game of political and religious institutions that are set up to make the world in our image, to benefit those in power and to oppress those who are not, particularly those who reject the world in favor of following the Creator. The harlotry the city is accused of is idolatry and any false religion set up against God. She leads humanity to the adultery of these religious systems and to get drunk on all sorts of immoral acts.

The irony is that, in the end, the Beast upon which the City rests will turn against her and destroy her, using up her wealth and power and casting her aside as it makes literal war against the Lamb. The people who embrace and trust the Beast will be betrayed.